#1 is not going to stop happening anytime soon. I saw this in a recent trip to Canada where I wanted to get some jigsaw puzzles with native art on them for friends. There were 500-piece sets manufactured in, I think, Seattle that were three times the price of 1000-piece sets manufactured in China. Yet buying one of each and taking a look at the contents there was little difference in the pieces. (The American-made one was a fraction of a millimetre thicker, but for that the cutting looked more accurate in the Chinese one. The pieces just fit better.)
#2 can be stopped, but would take intrusive border checks that most American businesses would absolutely not stand for.
You’re conflating two different things:
#1 is not going to stop happening anytime soon. I saw this in a recent trip to Canada where I wanted to get some jigsaw puzzles with native art on them for friends. There were 500-piece sets manufactured in, I think, Seattle that were three times the price of 1000-piece sets manufactured in China. Yet buying one of each and taking a look at the contents there was little difference in the pieces. (The American-made one was a fraction of a millimetre thicker, but for that the cutting looked more accurate in the Chinese one. The pieces just fit better.)
#2 can be stopped, but would take intrusive border checks that most American businesses would absolutely not stand for.
My comment does not conflate anything.